《黎明踏浪号》第十五章 最后的海上胜境

CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE WONDERS OF THE LAST SEA
第十五章　最后的海上胜境

VERY soon after they had left Ramandu’s country they began to feel that they had already sailed beyond the world.All was different.For one thing they all found that they were needing less sleep.One did not want to go to bed nor to eat much，nor even to talk except in low voices.Another thing was the light. There was too much of it.The sun when it came up each morning looked twice，if not three times，its usual size.And every morning(which gave Lucy the strangest feeling of all)the huge white birds，singing their song with human voices in a language no one knew，streamed overhead and vanished astern on their way to their breakfast at Aslan’s Table.A little later they came flying back and vanished into the east.
离开拉曼杜那里，他们感觉船一下子到了外面的世界，一切都变了。首先是，所有人都没那么需要睡觉了。大家都不想睡，也不想吃，话也不多，即使说也是慢声细语。第二是亮光，外面真是太亮了。每天早晨的太阳看上去没有原来的三倍之大，也有两倍那么大。每天早晨( 这时露茜的感受最强烈) 那些白鸟用人类般的嗓音唱着歌，可是谁也听不懂是什么语言，它们川流不息地飞过他们的头顶， 飞去阿斯兰的餐桌吃早餐，然后飞到船尾处就不见了。再然后它们又飞回来，飞到东边又不见了。
“How beautifully clear the water is !”said Lucy to herself，as she leaned over the port side early in the afternoon of the second day.
“多么清澈美丽的海水啊!”第二天午后，露茜就趴在左舷自言自语。
And it was.The first thing that she noticed was a little black object，about the size of a shoe，travelling along at the same speed as the ship.For a moment she thought it was something floating on the surface.But then there came floating past a bit of stale bread which the cook had just thrown out of the galley.And the bit of bread looked as if it were going to collide with the black thing， but it didn’t.It passed above it，and Lucy now saw that the black thing could not be on the surface.Then the black thing suddenly got very much bigger and flicked back to normal size a moment later.
确实是这样。然后她注意到的一个黑黑的小东西，这个东西像一只鞋大小，和船速一样的速度跟着船一路过来。有那么一瞬间她还以为那东西漂在水面上的。可是这时候厨子从厨房里扔出一块旧面包，面包在水面上漂过，看起来就要跟那东西相撞了，却没撞上。面包在那东西上面掠过，露茜这才明白那个黑东西不在水面上，并且一会儿变大，一会儿变小。
Now Lucy knew she had seen something just like that happen somewhere else—if only she could remember where.She held her hand to her head and screwed up her face and put out her tongue in the effort to remember.At last she did.Of course ! It was like what you saw from a train on a bright sunny day.You saw the black shadow of your own coach running along the fields at the same pace as the train.Then you went into a cutting;and immediately the same shadow flicked close up to you and got big， racing along the grass of the cutting-bank.Then you came out of the cutting and—flick ! —once more the black shadow had gone back to its normal size and was running along the fields.
露茜马上想起来自己在其他地方也见过同样的情景，可是她不记得是在哪儿了。她一手撑着头，板着脸，伸出舌头，拼命地想。最后想起来了，是的!就像在阳光明媚的天气，在火车里看到的情景一样。你看见自己那列客车的黑影同车速一样在田野上一路奔驰。等到火车开进路堑，那影子顿时贴近火车，变大，顺着路堑的草坡一路飞跑。再等到开出路堑，那黑影又变回以前的大小，在田野间一路飞奔而去。
“It’s our shadow !—the shadow of the Dawn Treader，”said Lucy.“Our shadow running along on the bottom of the sea.That time when it got bigger it went over a hill.But in that case the water must be clearer than I thought ! Good gracious，I must he seeing the bottom of the sea;fathoms and fathoms down.”
“它是我们这条船的影子!是黎明踏浪号的影子，”露茜说，“我们的船影在海底奔驰呢，到海底的山顶时船影就大了。这样的话，海水一定比我想象中还要清澈!上帝啊，我一定是看见很深很深的海底了。”
As soon as she had said this she realized that the great silvery expanse which she had been seeing(without noticing)for some time was really the sand on the sea-bed and that ail sorts of darker or brighter patches were not lights and shadows on the surface but real things on the bottom.At present，for instance，they were passing over a mass of soft purply green with a broad，winding strip of pale grey in the middle of it.But now that she knew it was on the bottom she saw it much better.She could see that bits of the dark stuff were much higher than other bits and were waving gently .“Just like trees in a wind，”said Lucy.“And I do believe that’s what they are.It’s a submarine forest.”
说完这句话，她突然发现自己不知不觉看了好一阵子海，那波光粼粼的一大片实际上是海底的沙滩，各种明暗并非海面的光影，其实是水底的实物。比如说，眼下他们的船要开过大片绿中带紫的东西， 中间掺杂着浅灰色的带状植物。现在她知道这是在海底下的植物， 她看起来就更清楚了。她能看见有一小片黑乎乎的东西比另一片高， 而且轻轻在飘动。“就像风中的树木一样，”露茜说，“我觉得这是树， 这就是海底森林。”
They passed on above it and presently the pale streak was joined by another pale streak.“If I was down there，”thought Lucy，“that streak would be just like a road through the wood.And that place where it joins the other Would be a crossroads.Oh， I do wish I was.Hallo !the forest is coming to an end.And I do believe the streak really was a road ! I can still see it going on across the open sand.It’s a different colour.And it’s marked out with something at the edges—dotted lines.Perhaps they are stones. And now it’s getting wider.”
过了这片森林，不一会儿那条灰带子就和另一条灰带子汇合了。“假如我在下面，”露茜心里想，“那条带子就像林间一条路。两条带子的汇合点就是十字路口了。哎呀，我真希望在下面呢。嗨!森林到头啦。我相信那带子真是一条路!我能看见它一直穿过空旷的沙滩呢，颜色也不同了。边上还画些什么……虚线，也有可能是石头。瞧， 它现在变宽了。”
But it was not really getting wider，it was getting nearer.She realized this because of the way in which the shadow of the ship came rushing up towards her.And the road—she felt sure it was a road now—began to go in zigzags.Obviously it was climbing up a steep hill.And when she held her head sideways and looked back，what she saw was very like what you see when you look down a winding road from the top of a hill.She could even see the shafts of sunlight falling through the deep water onto the wooded valley—and，in the extreme distance，everything melting away into a dim greenness.But some places—the sunny ones，she thought—were ultramarine blue.
这并不是真的宽了，而是近了。她知道船影经过时，这条路就朝船身冲过来了。而这条路——她确定这是条路——开始弯弯曲曲的了。显然这是条通向一座陡峭小山的路。她侧着头，回头看时，觉得很像在山顶俯瞰一条蜿蜒的山路。她甚至能看见阳光透过深水，照在树木繁茂的海底山谷上。远处，一切景物都融入到郁郁葱葱的绿色中。据她说有阳光的那些地方则是一片深蓝色。
She could not，however，spend much time looking back; what was coming into view in the forward direction was too exciting.The road had apparently now reached the top of the hill and ran straight forward.Little specks were moving to and fro on it.And now something most wonderful，fortunately in full sunlight—or as full as it can be when it falls through fathoms of water—flashed into sight.It was knobbly and jagged and of a pearly，or perhaps an ivory，colour.She was so nearly straight above it that at first she could hardly make out what it was. But everything became plain when she noticed its shadow.The sunlight was falling across Lucy’s shoulders，so the shadow of the thing lay stretched out on the sand behind it.And by its shape she saw clearly that it was a shadow of towers and pinnacles，minarets and domes.
她根本没有时间留恋那些，因为前面的景观让人目不暇接。那条路通到海底山顶，笔直笔直的，上面有小斑点来回移动。眼下，幸亏阳光充足——照进深深的海底要多亮有多亮，许多最奇妙的东西都在眼前闪动。这东西是圆锥形的，参差不齐，颜色像珍珠或者说像象牙。一开始差不多她正好在这东西上面，简直分辨不出那是什么， 等看到这东西的影子才一清二楚。阳光照过露茜的肩膀，那东西的影子就停留在它后面的沙地上。看形状像是尖顶、尖塔和圆顶的影子。
“Why !—it’s a city or a huge castle，”said Lucy to herself .“But I wonder why they’ve built it on top of a high mountain ?”
“哎呀!原来这是座城，或者是座很大的城堡。”露茜自言自语， “可是为什么要建在高山顶上呢?”
Long afterwards when she was back in England and talked all these adventures over with Edmund，they thought of a reason and I am pretty sure it is the true one.In the sea，the deeper you go， the darker and colder it gets，and it is down there，in the dark and cold，that dangerous things live—the squid and the Sea Serpent and the Kraken.The valleys are the wild，unfriendly places. The sea-people feel about their valleys as we do about mountains， and feel about their mountains as we feel about valleys.It is on the heights(or，as we would say，“in the shallows”)that there is warmth and peace.The reckless hunters and brave knights of the sea go down into the depths on quests and adventures，but return home to the heights for rest and peace，courtesy and council，the sports，the dances and the songs.
"回到英国很久之后，露茜跟爱德蒙谈起这段奇遇，他们推测出一个原因，我也相信事实就是如此。

越往前走海底越深，就越黑，越冷。像大乌贼、大海蛇、巨妖， 这些危险的怪物就住在又深又黑又冷的地方。众所周知，山谷多是荒野，并且非常凶险。海人对海底山谷的看法就像我们对高山的看法一样，而我们对海底山谷的看法也和海人对高山的看法也一样。在高处( 或者按我们的说法是“在浅处”) 才又暖和又宁静。海底那些鲁莽的猎人和勇敢的骑士到深海去探险猎奇，然后回到家里休息，与人交往，开会议事，娱乐健身，唱歌跳舞。
"
They had passed the city and the sea-bed was still rising. It was only a few hundred feet below the ship now.The road had disappeared.They were sailing above an open park-like country， dotted with little groves of brightly—coloured vegetation.And then—Lucy nearly squealed aloud with excitement—she had seen People.
这条船开过城市的时候，海底不断在升高。现在海底离船下只有几百英尺了，那条路也不见了。这条船现在正在一片公园般空旷的地方的上面航行，地上点缀着一簇簇色彩鲜艳的草木。于是露茜兴奋得差点高声尖叫起来!她终于看见人了。
There were between fifteen and twenty of them，and all mounted on sea-horses—not the tiny little sea-horses which you may have seen in museums but horses rather bigger than themselves.They must be noble and lordly people，Lucy thought，for she could catch the gleam of gold on some of their foreheads and streamers of emerald—or orange—coloured stuff fluttered from their shoulders in the current.Then：
有十五个人到二十个人，他们全骑在海马上——不是博物馆里人们所看到的那种小海马，而是比他们高得多的海马。露茜心想，他们一定是王公贵族，因为她一眼就能看见水里的有些人脑门上金光闪闪，翠绿色的飘带或橙红色的流苏在肩上飘动。
“Oh，bother these fish !”said Lucy，for a whole shoal of small fat fish，swimming quite close to the surface，had come between her and the Sea People.But though this spoiled her view it led to the most interesting thing of all.Suddenly a fierce little fish of a kind she had never seen before came darting up from below， snapped，grabbed，and sank rapidly with one of the fat fish in its mouth.And all the Sea People were sitting on their horses staring up at what had happened.They seemed to be talking and laughing. And before the hunting fish had got back to them with its prey， another of the same kind came up from the Sea People.And Lucy was almost certain that one big Sea Man who sat on his sea-horse in the middle of the party had sent it or released it;as if he had been holdng it back till then in his hand or on his wrist.
"忽然，露茜说：“哦，这些鱼真讨厌!”因为一群小肥鱼跟水面贴得很近，挡在她和海人之间。这样一来虽说扫了兴致，却让她看到了更有趣的事。

一条她没见过的小鱼冷不防从水底跳出来，猛地咬住一条肥鱼不放，迅速沉到水下。海人都骑在海马上，一抬头就看到了这一幕。他们还有说有笑地，那条小鱼并没有带着猎物回到他们身边，有一条同样的小鱼又从海人身边跳出水面。露茜基本上肯定是中间那个骑着海马的高个子把这些小鱼放出去的。因为刚才那些凶猛的小鱼好像就架在他手里和手腕上。
"
“Why，I do declare，”said Lucy，“it’s a hunting party.Or more like a hawking party.Yes，that’s it.They ride out with these little fierce fish on their wrists just as we used to ride out with falcons on our wrists when we were Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel long ago.And then they fly them—or I suppose I should say swim them—at the others.How—”
“啊，我明白了，”露茜说，“原来这是一支狩猎队啊，不过倒更像一支放鹰打猎队。是的，就是这样。他们手腕上戴着凶猛的小鱼，骑海马出来，就像我们很久以前在凯尔帕拉维尔当国王和女王的时候，手腕上架着猎鹰，骑马出去一样。见到猎物就放飞猎鹰—— 确切地说是放猎鱼游向猎物。”
She stopped suddenly because the scene was changing.The Sea People had noticed the Dawn Treader.The shoal of fish hard scattered in every direction：the People themselves were coming up to find out the meaning of this big，black thing which had come between them and the sun.And now they were so close to the surface that if they had been in air，instead of water，Lucy could have spoken to them.There were men and women both.All wore coronets of some kind and many had chains of pearls.They wore no other clothes.Their bodies were the colour of old ivory，their hair dark purple.The King in the centre(no one could mistake him for anything but the King)looked proudly and fiercely into Lucy’s face and shook a spear in his hand.His knights did the same.The faces of the ladies were filled with astonishment.Lucy felt sure they had never seen a ship or a human before—and how should they， in seas beyond the world’s end where no ship ever came ?
她突然停住了，因为一切景象突然变了。海人看到了黎明踏浪号。鱼群向四处逃窜，海人也亲自冒出来查看挡在太阳和他们之间的庞然大物是什么玩意儿。他们很快就贴近了水面，如果他们在水上，而不是在水里，露茜倒愿意跟他们说说话。他们有男有女，头上都戴着某种王冠，一些人还戴着珍珠项链，身上没有其他衣服，皮肤是陈年的象牙白，头发是深紫红色。国王在当中( 没人会认错他) 高傲而凶狠地注视着露茜，手里挥着一支长矛。他手下的骑士跟他一致行动，同行的几位女士脸上露出惊讶的神色。露茜认为可能之前他们根本没见过船或人， 他们在世界尽头之外的海洋里，根本没有船到过那儿，又怎么会见到呢?
“What are you staring at，Lu ?”said a voice close beside her.
“你在看什么啊，露茜?”身边有个声音说。
Lucy had been so absorbed in what she was seeing that she started at the sound，and when she turned she found that her arm had gone“dead”from leaning so long on the rail in one position. Drinian and Edmund were beside her.
露茜看得出了神，听到声音吓了一跳。她回过头来，才发现全身重心压在栏杆一边，一条手臂早发麻了，德里宁和爱德蒙在她身边。
“Look，”she said.
“你们看。”她说。
They both looked，but almost at once Drinian said in a low voice：
他们两个都看了一眼，可是德里宁立刻小声说：
“Turn round at once，your Majesties—that’s right，with our backs to the sea.And don’t look as if we were talking about anything important.”
“两位陛下， 马上转过来，对，背对着大海，不要像在谈论什么大事那般。”
“Why，what’s the matter ?”said Lucy as she obeyed.
“为什么，怎么了?”露茜一边按照他说的去做，一边问。
“It’ll never do for the sailors to see all that，”said Drinian.“We’ll have men falling in love with a sea—woman，or falling in love with the under-sea country itself，and jumping overboard.I’ve heard of that kind of thing happening before in strange seas.It’s always unlucky to see these people.”
“水手绝对不能看这些东西，”德里宁说，“看了以后，我们就会爱上海女，或者爱上海底世界，然后跳下水去。我听说过以前在其他海域里出过这种事。总之，看见这些人会倒霉的。”
“But we used to know them，”said Lucy.“In the old days at Cair Paravel when my brother Peter was High King.They came to the surface and sang at our coronation.”
“可是我们在凯尔帕拉维尔时认识他们，”露茜说，“当时我哥哥彼得被加冕为至尊王，他们曾来到水面，为我们唱歌，祝贺我们的加冕。”
“I think that must have been a different kind，Lu，”said Edmund.“They could live in the air as well as under water.I rather think these can’t.By the look of them they’d have surfaced and started attacking us long ago if they could.They seem very fierce.”
“我想你说的肯定是另外一种海人，露茜，”爱德蒙说，“他们可以在水下生活，也可以在水上生活。我觉得这些人不能在水上生活。看他们的样子，如果可以的话，早就冒出水面攻击我们了，他们长得很凶。”
“At any rate，”said Drinian，but at that moment two sounds were heard.One was a plop.The other was a voice from the fighting—top shouting，“Man overboard !”Then everyone was busy.Some of the sailors hurried aloft to take in the sail;others hurried below to get to the oars;and Rhince，who was on duty on the poop，began to put the helm hard over so as to come round and back to the man who had gone overboard.But by now everyone knew that it wasn’t strictly a man.It was Reepicheep.
“总而言之……”德里宁正要开口说话，忽然听到两种声响。一种是扑通声，另一种是观测台上传来一声吼，“有人落水了!”于是，大家开始手忙脚乱地救人。有的水手爬上去落篷，有的水手跑去划桨。在船尾值班的赖因斯开始转舵，掉过头开到那人落水的地方。可是这时大家才发现落水的根本不是人，而是雷佩契普。
“Drat that mouse !”said Drinian.“It’s more trouble than all the rest of the ship’s company put together.If there is any scrape to be got into，in it will get !It ought to be put in irons—keel-hauled—marooned—have its whiskers cut off.Can anyone see the little blighter ?”
“那只老鼠太可恶了!”德里宁说，“其他人加在一起也没它那么多的麻烦。什么麻烦事，都会有它!给它戴上脚镣手铐，并且用绳子把它绑在船上在下面拖，不然把它的胡子剃干净，再把它放逐到荒岛上去，有人看到那个小混蛋吗?”
All this didn’t mean that Drinian really disliked Reepicheep.On the contrary he liked him very much and was therefore frightened about him，and being frightened put him in a bad temper—just as your mother is much angrier with you for running out into the road in front of a car than a stranger would be.No one，of course， was afraid of Reepicheep’s drowning，for he was an excellent swimmer;but the three who knew what was going on below the water were afraid of those long，cruel spears in the hands of the Sea People.
说了这么一大堆并不意味着德里宁不喜欢雷佩契普。相反，他很喜欢它，所以担心它出事。因为担心，德里宁才发脾气。就像你跑出去在路上迎面碰到了汽车令母亲因此大发雷霆那样，陌生人就不会这样。当然，雷佩契普掉进水里，谁都不担心，因为它是个游泳高手。可是猜到即有可能发生什么事的三个人却十分紧张了，水下那些面目凶狠的海人手中拿着杀气腾腾的长矛呢。
In a few minutes the Dawn Treader had come round and everyone could see the black blob in the water which was Reepicheep.He was chattering with the greatest excitement but as his mouth kept on getting filled with water nobody could understand what he was saying.
几分钟之后，黎明踏浪号掉转了方向，大家终于看清水里那个黑乎乎的家伙就是雷佩契普。它正兴高采烈地叽叽喳喳，可他嘴里灌满了水，所以，大家听不懂它在说什么。
“He’ll blurt the whole thing out if we don’t shut him up，”cried Drinian.To prevent this he rushed to the side and lowered a rope himself，shouting to the sailors，“All right，all right.Back to your places.I hope I can heave a mouse up without help.”And as Reepicheep began climbing up the rope—not very nimbly because his wet fur made him heavy—Drinian leaned over and whispered to him，
“如果不让它闭上嘴，它可要把什么事情都说出去了。”德里宁叫道。德里宁奔向舷侧，亲自放下一根缆绳，对水手们喊：“行了， 行了，回到你们的岗位上去。不用人帮忙我自己能把一只老鼠拉上来。”雷佩契普从缆绳上爬了上来——行动不是很利索，因为他全身的皮毛都湿透，身体很沉重——德里宁弯下腰，对它小声说：
“Don’t tell.Not a word.”
“别说。一个字也别说。”
But when the dripping Mouse had reached the deck it turned out not to be at all interested in the Sea People.
谁知那只湿淋淋的老鼠踏上甲板后，竟然对海人毫无兴趣。
“Sweet !”he cheeped.“Sweet，sweet !”
“甜啊!”它吱吱叫道，“甜啊，甜啊!”
“What are you talking about ?”asked Drinian crossly.“And you needn’t shake yourself all over me，either.”
“你在说什么啊?”德里宁生气地问，“不要把你身上的水抖在我身上。”
“I tell you the water’s sweet，”said the Mouse.“Sweet，fresh. It isn’t salt.”
“水真的是甜的，”老鼠说，“很甜，很鲜美，没有盐的苦涩。”
For a moment no one quite took in the importance of this.But then Reepicheep once more repeated the old prophecy：
一时之间，没有人完全明白这句话的意义。可是雷佩契普又重复一遍那段古老的预言：
“Where the waves grow sweet，Doubt not，Reepicheep，There is the utter East .”
“海水变得甜又香，雷佩契普把心放，那里就是最东方。”
Then at last everyone understood.
大家这才明白过来。
“Let me have a bucket，Rynelf，”said Drinian.
“给我一个水桶，赖尼夫。”德里宁说。
It was handed him and he lowered it and up it came again.The water shone in it like glass.
赖尼夫把水桶递到他手里，他放到海里，再吊上来。那水真的像玻璃一样无比剔透。
“Perhaps your Majesty would like to taste it first，”said Drinian to Caspian.
“也许陛下想先品尝一口?”德里宁对凯斯宾说。
The King took the bucket in both hands，raised it to his lips， sipped，then drank deeply and raised his head.His face was changed. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter.
凯斯宾国王双手捧住水桶，举到唇边，浅浅啜了一口，又深深喝了一口，再抬起头。他的脸色都变了，眼睛更加明亮，整个人精神焕发。
“Yes，”he said，“it is sweet.That’s real water，that.I’m not sure that it isn’t going to kill me.But it is the death I would have chosen—if I’d known about it till now.”
“是啊，”他说，“果然很甜。这就是真正的水啊。我不确定喝了这水会不会被毒死。不过现在如果是为了尝尝这水的味道，我倒愿意被毒死。”
“What do you mean ?”asked Edmund.
“什么意思?”爱德蒙问。
“It—it’s like light more than anything else，”said Caspian.
“这——这不是水，而是光，比任何东西都像光。”凯斯宾说。
“That is what it is，”said Reepicheep.“Drinkable light.We must be very near the end of the world now.”
“说得太对了，”雷佩契普说，“这就是光，我们现在一定很靠近世界的尽头了。”
There was a moment’s silence and then Lucy knelt down on the deck and drank from the bucket.
大家沉默了一会，之后露茜在甲板上跪下，直接对着水桶喝水。
“It’s the loveliest thing I have ever tasted，”she said with a kind of gasp.“But oh—it’s strong.We shan’t need to eat anything now.”
“我长那么大还从没尝到这么甘甜的东西呢。”她喘着气说，“不过，真带劲，现在什么我都不想吃了。”
And one by one everybody on board drank.And for a long time they were all silent.They felt almost too well and strong to bear it;and presently they began to notice another result.As I have said before，there had been too much light ever since they left the island of Ramandu—the sun too large(though not too hot)，the sea too bright，the air too shining.Now，the light grew no less— if anything，it increased—but they could bear it.They could look straight up at the sun without blinking.They could see more light than they had ever seen before.And the deck and the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone.And next morning，when the sun rose，now five or six times its old size，they stared hard into it and could see the very feathers of the birds that came flying from it.
船上的人都喝了一通，然后大家都默不作声。他们都认为这水简直太奇妙了，太带劲了，充满能量。过了一会儿，他们又发现了这种海水的另一种功能。我前面说过，自从他们离开拉曼杜的岛之后， 光线很强，太阳光很刺眼( 虽然还不太热)，海面很亮，天空很灿烂。这时，亮度不仅没有减弱，反倒是增强了，可他们竟然也能忍受。他们的眼睛现在可以一眨不眨地仰望太阳，能直视比之前见过的更加强烈的光线。甲板上、船帆上、他们自己脸上、身体上都更加明亮，而且越来越明亮，甚至每根缆绳都在散发着光芒。第二天早晨， 太阳升起时就比平时大了五六倍，他们盯着太阳，还能看得见从太阳上飞起的鸟的羽毛。
Hardly a word was spoken on board all that day，till about dinner-time(no one wanted any dinner，the water was enough for them)Drinian said：
整整一天，船上没有人说过一句话。直到午餐时间，谁也不想进餐， 喝了这水大家就够了，德里宁说：
“I can’t understand this.There is not a breath of wind.The sail hangs dead.The sea is as flat as a pond.And yet we drive on as fast as if there were a gale behind us.”
“我不明白，一丝风都没有，船帆都不动，海面平静得像小池塘。可是我们的船竟然还是动力十足。”
“I’ve been thinking that，too，”said Caspian.“We must be caught in some strong current.”
“我也一直在想，”凯斯宾说，“估计我们是遇上强大的水流了。”
“H’m，”said Edmund.“That’s not so nice if the World really has an edge and we’re getting near it.”
“嗯，”爱德蒙说，“如果世界真有个边缘的话，我们的船又正在接近边缘，这可不太好啊。”
“You mean，”said Caspian，“that we might be just—well， poured over it ?”
“你是说，”凯斯宾说，“我们的船很有可能……嗯，就这样流出去?”
“Yes，yes，”cried Reepicheep，clapping his paws together. “That’s how I’ve always imagined it—the World like a great round table and the waters of all the oceans endlessly pouring over the edge.The ship will tip up—stand on her head—for one moment we shall see over the edge—and then，down，down，the rush， the speed—”
“是啊，是啊，”雷佩契普拍着两个爪子说，“我一直就是这么想的——世界像个大圆桌，各大洋的水无穷无尽地从边上流下去。这条船会翻倒，我们都被翻倒。一会儿我们翻过边缘就清楚了。然后就往下扎，往下飞快地冲……”
“And what do you think will be waiting for us at the bottom， eh ?”said Drinian.
“嗯，你觉得海底有什么在等我们呢?”德里宁说。
“Aslan’s country perhaps，”said the Mouse，its eyes shining.“Or perhaps there isn’t any bottom.Perhaps it goes down for ever and ever.But whatever it is，won’t it be worth anything just to have looked for one moment beyond the edge of the world.”
“应该是阿斯兰的国土吧，”雷佩契普眼睛闪闪发光，说，“或许没有底，一直冲下去、冲下去、没个头。不管是什么，只要看一次世界尽头外边是什么景象，不就值得了吗?”
“But look here，”said Eustace，“this is all rot.The world’s round—I mean，round like a ball，not like a table.”
“不过听我说，”尤斯塔斯说，“你们说得太荒唐了。世界是圆的——我是说，像球一样圆，不是像张桌子。”
“Our world is，”said Edmund.“But is this ?”
“我们的世界是圆的，”爱德蒙说，“可这个世界是不是呢?”
“Do you mean to say，”asked Caspian，“that you three come from a round world(round like a ball)and you’ve never told me ! It’s really too bad of you.Because we have fairy-tales in which there are round worlds and I always loved them.I never believed there were any real ones.But I’ve always wished there were and I’ve always longed to live in one.Oh，I’d give anything—I wonder why you can get into our world and we never get into yours ? If only I had the chance ! It must be exciting to live on a thing like a ball.Have you ever been to the parts where people walk about upside—down ?”
“你们的意思是说，”凯斯宾问，“你们三位都来自一个像个球那么圆的圆圆的世界，可你们从来都没跟我说过!太不像话了。我们的童话里的世界就是圆的，我一直很喜欢这样的世界。但我根本不相信有什么真正的圆世界。不过我倒是希望有这种世界，而且向往在这样的世界里生活。“哦，我愿意拿一切来换!我不知道为什么你们可以进入我们的世界，而我们却不能进入你们的世界，要是有机会就好了!生活在一个球上一定很刺激。是你们倒立头脚，颠倒走路的地方吗?”
Edmund shook his head.“And it isn’t like that，”he added.“There’s nothing particularly exciting about a round world when you’re there.”
爱德蒙摇摇头。“不是这样的，”他说，“等你到了那种地方， 你就会觉得生活在一个球上没有什么特别的。”